Stephen Bounds — Tue, 17/02/2015 - 09:16

The post title says it all, really, but I want to put a stake in the ground on this one.

Every time there is a debate within a KM forum on knowledge, someone will say that "knowledge is a human thing". Or perhaps more specifically, they will claim a computer can't have knowledge. A computer can only hold information, it is the humans who programmed it who have the knowledge.

Stephen Bounds — Sun, 07/09/2014 - 08:15

Sometimes, I think that people over-complicate the reasons why social media works. It's not some magical parallel universe!

However, the greater power of customers to communicate with other customers at great speed and low cost does now mean that false, inconsistent, or inflated claims by organisations rapidly get discovered. And similarly, positive experiences by customers of your services can and will be rapidly shared with their peers.

Stephen Bounds — Fri, 04/07/2014 - 12:10

I have always been suspicious of altruism. Humans are capable of wonderful and unselfish acts, but when trying to determine the behaviour of an overall system, I think it's far more reasonable to expect that people will act to benefit their own interests.

Why? Three basic reasons:

Local judgement. People understand and focus on their local situation better and in more detail than a more distant consideration.

Stephen Bounds — Wed, 08/01/2014 - 09:12

As a generalisation, computer applications involving user interaction are either intended to augment human intelligence and activity, or to be a service that delivers a pre-determined capability for people. By analogy, it's the difference between an exoskeleton and a car.

Stephen Bounds — Thu, 21/11/2013 - 12:41

Let's get something out of the way. A common fallacy about complex systems goes like this: If we could only observe all aspects of a complex system, we could predict its behaviour perfectly.

It's an easy trap to fall into, because in complex systems the chain of events leading to an outcome can be traced after the event. We see this all the time in coronial inquiries and other kinds of port-mortems. But despite the fact that complex systems aren't random, their non-determinism is fundamental.